Do you lack energy? Does it seem that no matter what you do, you just don’t have enough juice to get through the day? Maybe you come home from work drained after a long shift and just want to order takeout and watch tv until bed.
Here are 7 reasons why you just can’t seem to have the power you need to live the life you want.
1.) You aren’t drinking enough water
Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way when I ended up in the hospital after my fever wouldn’t improve after a week.
So I sat there in the hospital lobby waiting for my various test results.
I looked over to a poster on the wall that said, “dehydration is the number one cause of daytime fatigue.”
I hadn’t ever heard that before and honestly thought it was some poor excuse to get people to drink more water. But I took note of it.
Then a few weeks later, I noticed a tired feeling that I’d felt before. It was more of a crappy, lazy, unmotivated feeling that I usually alleviated with a mid-day nap.
Then I remembered that poster… and downed a glass or two of water.
Within minutes I noticed a difference. No more laziness and no more lack of motivation. The water was better than a nap. I couldn’t believe it, the poster was right!
I was a believer.
Now I routinely drink 500 ml – 1 L of water every morning to make sure I’m hydrated, and more throughout the day to avoid scraping by.
So I recommend drinking 500 ml of water to start. See how you feel and if it’s not helping you need more.
2.) You might need a caffeine boost or a coffee break
This one is obvious since most people reach for a cup of hot coffee when they need a boost at work.
It’s so effective that there’s a reason why we have coffee breaks.
Coffee breaks came around in WWII when factory owners noticed employees’ productivity decreased after working for 4-5 hours straight. In attempts to ramp up productivity back to normal levels, workers were encouraged to take breaks and drink coffee in hopes to improve production. Overnight productivity, efficiency, and quality control greatly increased.
Sometimes however you might notice coffee just isn’t doing the trick.
This is because caffeine is a diuretic which means it makes you pee. So drink at least one glass of water for every cup of coffee to stay hydrated. (Step 1)
Plus, coffee tastes better with water so lots of places serve water alongside it. The water cleanses your palette and I find it makes black coffee taste slightly sweeter.
3.) You aren’t eating healthy enough
Picture your body like an exotic sports car. You wouldn’t fill it up with low-grade gasoline, would you? No, because it simply wasn’t designed for it. That gas will just clog and destroy your engine.
So then why would you put junk in your body? We were designed to take in healthy, whole foods so our brain and body can function at full capacity.
There’s a reason why they told you at school to eat healthy snacks in the morning instead of chocolate bars.
I notice when I eat junk food I just don’t feel the same. I feel like crap and lack motivation and drive. It’s my body saying “I can’t use this garbage!”
You also may not be eating enough calories. When you diet hard or don’t eat enough it’s just as bad as giving your body junk food. So keep that in mind.
And try to stay away from MSG. You’ve probably heard of it notoriously in Chinese food or in your instant ramen noodle soup base as a flavor enhancer. It stimulates parts of your brain to make your food taste better, I’ve heard people say that it’ll make dirt taste good. Honestly, I don’t believe that. It’s nothing to be scared of it’s just salt so a little won’t hurt but too much will make you tired and lazy.
I literally ate a bowl of fried rice for lunch with my girlfriend and 20 minutes later I felt like I got hit by a MACK TRUCK. I felt disoriented, I could barely walk straight, my vision was blurry and I couldn’t process anything that was being said to me. She straight up asked me if I was drunk! I quickly drank 3-4 glasses of water in hopes that I could flush it out of my system. It worked like a charm and I felt normal again.
4.) You lack a regular workout routine
I strongly recommend you start working out if you haven’t already. It’s not a myth when they say that exercise gives you more energy. It really does.
It gets your blood flowing, your stamina increases, and you can lose weight – it’s a game changer. Your body gets used to moving and you’ll notice that things you used to dread now seem like a piece of cake.
Even when you work out intensely your fatigue just isn’t the same. You aren’t lazy, you feel great and you have energy!
I find I can get much more done on days that I work out. It’s ironic but true.
This works as long as you give your body enough rest otherwise, you’ll find there’s no more gas left in the tank and you’ll literally struggle to stay awake during the day. But rest assured you won’t have the “I don’t want to do anything” kind of tiredness.
5.) You need more sleep
It’s scientifically recommended that you sleep 7-8 hours a night for optimal functioning.
Realistically, you can survive on 6 hours of sleep but I don’t recommend it. I say this because the lack of sleep catches up to us. You miss a few hours of sleep here or there and it adds up – each hour lost rolling into one another.
Maybe after 6 hours of sleep Sunday & Monday night you’re okay for Tuesday. But then as the week goes by you find yourself dying for more.
Next thing you know you struggle to stay awake and need to take a nap after work or go to bed early. If not you may find yourself sleeping 12+ hours on Friday night as your body desperately tries to make up for the lost time.
Just try not to oversleep, it’s supposed to shorten your lifespan & might give you a headache so don’t make it a habit.
6.) You aren’t being engaged enough
What are you actually doing during the week?
There could be a good chance that you just aren’t mentally stimulated enough.
Ever noticed you get tired after sitting or doing nothing for too long?
It’s funny because we look forward to doing nothing but then doing nothing gets old real quick. Leaving us more tired than from a busy day.
We wish we had something to do so much that our minds can create nonexistent problems to keep us from going crazy with boredom.
Why do we get tired of doing nothing?
Our body is run by a sympathetic (stimulating) & parasympathetic (relaxing) nervous system that keeps us in a balance between alert and mellowed out.
So when you are doing exciting activities like sports, or creative thinking your sympathetic system is activated and more engaged making you awake whereas if you were to do something like boring nothingness your parasympathetic system is firing causing you to feel tired.
You get tired simply due to the fact that you are allowing yourself to be tired. When you aren’t doing something your body has no reason to stay energized. So because it’s not being engaged it thinks it’s time to rest.
Tip: After periods of this try eating, drinking, or even walking around a bit. Within minutes you’ll be back to you in no time!
7.) You are working a soul-sucking job
Maybe you’ve done everything I’ve mentioned on this list but nothing seems to work.
Does it seem that no matter how much caffeine and water you consume in hopes to wake up it’s not working? Yet you’re visiting the restroom too frequently so you know you’ve been taking in enough?
You’re eating healthy and exercising regularly yet it isn’t giving you the energy you’re wishing for or it’s stopped working entirely.
But you still feel tired… Then there’s a good chance your job is the culprit.
The truth is these jobs can be a bore shutting us down and making us dull. They call it a soul-sucking job for a reason.
You’re doing seemingly pointless work for someone who doesn’t care about you, you hate the people you work with in a negative environment, endless drama, and the long hours working to make them richer and not to mention the stress you endure.
Doing tasks that we don’t enjoy forces our minds to shut off.
Yet when you come back home you can suddenly spring back to life, and time flies by. You’re not a zombie any longer.
There’s a reason why most jobs start at 9 am and end at 5 pm. They take the most productive and focused hours from us. All to make the boss wealthy, in exchange for a paycheque that gets spent quicker than it takes to earn.
A job that sucks up your free time wasted in commute or unpaid/undesired overtime, leaving you pressed until you go back to work again another day.
That’s the trap.
We were meant for much more than to sit in a cubicle or office and take orders from someone like a mindless robot.
Instead, use your spare time to build a business or side hustle you enjoy that you can eventually turn into your new full-time job.
If you don’t make a change now and start working towards living the life of your dreams and paying yourself, this tiredness may never go away.
So what are you waiting for?
Start now – the longer you wait, the longer it takes and the older you get.
Stay tuned for more to help you down that path.
Until the next one,
Oliver.
